Lot 3018. An exceptionally fine and rare pair of polychrome enamelled ruby-back wine cups, marks and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Estimate 6,000,000 — 8,000,000 HKD (687,588 - 916,783 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

each delicately potted with steep sides resting on a short foot, the exterior evenly covered in a rich purplish-pink enamel, the interior picked out in varying pastel tones of purplish-blue, rose, yellow, green and blue with scattered berries, melon and lotus seeds, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double-circle - 8.3 cm, 3 1/4  in.

Provenance: A private Japanese collection, by repute.

Note: Exquisitely enamelled with a delicate assortment of fruit and white melon seeds, cups of this type are extremely rare. Deceptively simple, the design demanded the highest level of skill and precision in every stage of its manufacture to avoid the slightest defect in the potting, firing or glazing.  Produced from the last years of the Kangxi reign and continued into the early years of Yongzheng, these wares are among the earliest famille-rose pieces which used the newly-introduced rose-pink and puce enamels. The beauty of this newly developed palette is evident not only on the interior design but also on the ‘ruby’ glaze of the exterior.

Only two other pairs of cups from this group are known: a pair illustrated in Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 94; and another sold in these rooms, 29th November 1976, lot 614. Compare also an individual bowl with rounded sides, painted with a related interior design and the exterior covered in a bright carnation-pink enamel, published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 957.

For the prototype of these cups, see a Kangxi mark and period example, sold in these rooms, 16th November 1988, lot 366, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st December 2010, lot 2813, from the Gerald M. Greenwald collection; another pair, from the collection of Paul and Helen Bernat, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 15th November 1988, lot 49, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th November 2007, lot 1759; and a single cup, from the Riesco Collection, illustrated in Riesco Collection of Chinese Ceramics Handlist, Croydon, 1987, pl. 159.

The present design, with its depiction of fruit and seeds, perhaps meant to evoke the healthy, aromatic infusions that are flavoured with dried fruit and spices, is symbolic of the wish for many sons and grandsons. These fruit and seeds would also be placed in cups of tea traditionally served to parents of a bride and groom at a wedding or sprinkled on a marriage bed. It is likely such cups would have been ordered for a wedding celebration.

Sotheby's. Emperors’ Playthings – a Connoisseur’s Collection, Hong Kong, 06 avr. 2016, 02:20 PM